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The stench of speed was a shroud. It hung in the air thick as fog; it clouded his mind. There was nothing to think about anyway. Pick up Cadma
A larger grendel climbed one of the bigger boulders left by the deadfall. It perched there, looking them over. Carlos paid little attention; he had to watch his feet; he was on uncertain footing, with a mass of ninety-five kilograms sagging from his shoulder. The grendel climbed down at leisure, hooked the ravaged corpse of a heifer and went away. The door was closer.
Cadma
Joe Sikes was in front of him, then up against him. When Cadma
Mary A
By the time she turned to run to the door a grendel had got behind her. It was heat-exhausted. Its sides heaved, and it was no longer ru
For a moment Mary A
From behind her Joe Sikes fired three times. Twice at the grendel.
Once lower...
Mary A
Carlos dragged Cadma
Tweedledum met them at the door, barking and trying to lick the blood off Cadma
Mary A
"Ida," he said.
"Ah." Carlos took out his comcard. "Ida. Cadma
Nothing answered.
"I'll go look," Joe Sikes said.
"Get her moving—"
"Sure." Sikes went out through the back of the house.
"We've done what we can," Carlos said.
Cadma
Mary A
Carlos helped her slit his trouser legs. There was blood, and a sliver of bone knifed out of the left leg. "Spiral fracture," he said. She was amazed at how calm she could be. I'll collapse later. For now she had work to do.
Blood flowed freely from the right thigh. "Venous blood," Carlos said.
"It flows, not spurts. Jill—give us a hand here, please."
Cadma
"Bruises. Perhaps a punctured lung. The thing fell hard against him," Carlos said.
"You're in charge," Cadma
Carlos looked down helplessly. "I'll find Jerry—"
"He's in the back room," Mary A
Tweedledum barked in rage at the clerestory.
Something crawled up through the stream. Three of the dogs met it there, crowded to get at it. The grendel, weakened, managed to get its teeth into Tweedledee's neck before the other dogs tore it apart.
Tweedledum turned from the corpse, licked at his sister's wounds. She whined softly and died.
Stu rushed in, rifle in hand. "The Skeeter's up! They're burning out there! Burning and ru
There was a sudden burst of gunfire from outside, and twin screams, human and grendel.
The roof sagged, bulged inward. Two grendels fought to push in through the clerestory.
Jill grabbed a spear, shrieked, and stabbed one in the throat. It writhed, whipped its tail, and she backed off. The spear remained in the wound.
It fell into the living room. It pawed weakly at the spear, eyes ablaze with hatred and pain. It tried to go on speed, but had nothing left. They clubbed at it, everyone striking at it, dogs darting in.
The roof collapsed, and two more grendels fell through. One landed nearly atop Jill, and had its jaws in her leg before anyone could move.
Mary A
She fired at full automatic. The gun stopped almost immediately. Out of ammunition. The grendels were still coming. She looked back toward Cadma
A river of fire flowed down. It flowed from the bedroom into the living room, under the earthen walls of the house. Flames danced from the water, and Mary A
"Sikes!" Carlos shouted. "He's poured the kerosene in the river!"
Joe Sikes. I owe you. I guess I already paid.
The fire flowed down to engulf the grendels. They turned downstream, fleeing in terror.
And then there was quiet, save for coughing from the smoke. There were no live grendels in the house.
Another volley of shots.
Somewhere a grendel screamed.
The surviving colonists pulled smoldering furniture and cloth against one of the earthen walls, then smothered the heap with a blanket.
Cadma
"Madre de Dios," Carlos said. "Shut up for a moment!"
It was very quiet in the room.
The veranda was covered with blood. Four men, one woman, three grendels; all dead.
Below the veranda and as far downhill as Carlos could see, the plateau was littered with corpses. Men and dogs and cattle; but mostly grendels. Hundreds and hundreds of grendels.
Some lay still. Some crawled, torn nearly in half, trailing entrails from shattered bodies. The air hung heavy with the stench of kerosene and burnt meat. Patches of fire burned twenty meters from the veranda. Ida had brought the fires very close indeed.
The stream no longer burned. It was also no longer choked with grendels. They had retreated in front of a river of fire. Grendels seeking cold had fled from the river and died in the hills.
Other people came out of the house and down from the roof. Gunshots from up above the house: one, two, three, then silence. Rick Erin held a bloody spear. He held it high and shook it in defiance.
The command console had been knocked off its table. Hendrick limped over to pick it up and set aright. He touched the switches, and lights glowed.
Tau Ceti was low on the horizon. Carlos limped out to the edge of the plateau and looked out. The mist had dissipated. He looked for grendels on speed, and found none. Here and there a grendel dragged the corpse of a grendel or a cow toward the water. He saw them met by emerging grendels, and torn apart.
Something had happened. Something had changed, and Carlos knew it. The grendels knew it!
Human beings were no longer prey. Man was the ultimate killer on Avalon. Grendels were smart enough to learn. The survivors now stalked each other instead of the aliens from the stars, the creatures who had brought death to thousands of Avalon's former masters.
"Geographic—"
"We're here. Are you all right?"
Hendrick looked toward Carlos. His face was grimy and haggard, his eyes bright. "What do I tell them?"
"Tell them we've won."